Scrapbook of Memories
by heather8
Summary: Ally's cleaning out the basement when she finds some interesting things.
1. Default Chapter

TITLE: Scrapbook of Memories  
AUTHOR: Heather  
SUMMARY: Ally's cleaning out the basement when she finds some interesting things.   
DISCLAIMER: the only ppl I DON'T own are those shown on the fox show Ally McBeal...however, fortunately, there are some new ppl in this that I TOTALLY own...I made 'em up! Completely! lol   
NOTES: okay, the structure of this does not follow a timeline of anything, so if you see something that happened way before something else did, don't sue me, it's sposed to be like that! lol and also, I'm taking most of the dialogue from what happened in season four and using it. I wanna keep all of that, FOR THE MOST PART the same, however I think I WILL be adding my own little things here and there into what really happened, kay?! :) The MAIN exception will be the end of the series. I'm like TOTALLY going out on a limb as to what happened and what happens. To be honest, a BIG detour from my normal writing...you all will understand when you get there. ENJOY! :)  
Another quick note. Even though Ally is the one remembering these things, I decided to NOT take it from her pov and to include other thoughts as if it were a fanfic in itself...I figure it'll be more enjoyable to read other ppl's thoughts as well as events where Ally isn't quite present. Hope that doesn't bug TOO many ppl!!! :) one quick last note…I went V. song happy in this fic…but it's long enough to probably justify them all…the songs will be credited @ the end of every part…that way nothing's spoiled straight off! :) the REAL new stuff doesn't really start until the third chapter, so just bear with the first two parts...as they are just giving you some background for the way the rest of the story will be set up.   
Okay, there are certain things you hafta know in order to follow this story. There are memories...and you know that they're memories when you see this:   
And then there are separations of scenes WITHIN the memories as well as within the present tense of the story (which mainly occurs @ the end)...those are separated by this: ***  
hope you all follow that! I'm sure it'll be nothing once you get into the story.   
  
  
Memories are all a person has when they grow old you know. Memories are what make an old lady happy or sad to have lived the life they lived. At 9 in the morning, when a 65 year old Ally Paul made her way down into the basement of her two-story Boston suburban home, little did she know the kind of memory overload she would be faced with that day. She had decided it was about time to organize that mess that had accumulated down there over some 30 odd years. She rounded the bottom of the stairs and made her way around the corner through the bathroom with two doors into the laundry room. She turned on the light and looked up into the storage area, which was about 3 feet above ground next to the washer and dryer. There was a solitary light bulb with a string hanging down along with tons and tons of boxes.   
Ally took a deep breath and grabbed the first box she saw. It was so heavy that she found herself dragging it out rather than lifting, considering she was on a rather weak chair and any wrong move could send the chair crashing beneath her. As she pulled the box towards her, it came to the end where the storage space ended and she climbed down, heaving the box onto the chair and then onto the floor.   
Ally sat down on the chair and reached into the box. She pulled out an album and a couple of fallen documents that were loosely tucked in there. Ally picked up the documents and organized them, and then something caught her eye, a name, Kimberly Bishop. Oh how she had hated that woman. Ally chuckled as she continued to read. It was the complaint that Kimmy had filed against her when she had insulted her while being out on a date. Ah, the father-son team. Ally laughed at herself for having dated blood relatives. The second claim had been for insulting her in front of a nun before she ran into Larry on the street. The music, she remembered hearing music while staring at him while he looked at her like she was crazy.  
  
  
"Hey!"   
"Ally. Don't tell me, the son has a twin!" Larry kept a straight face while teasing Ally.  
"Funny," Ally and Larry maintained an awkward silence for about five seconds. "I'm here to hire you," Ally broke the silence.   
"Hire me?" Larry questioned her.  
"I've been sued," Ally confessed, feeling very stupid because, matter of fact, the case was stupid. "Now, I could have a member of my own firm, but I think it probably makes sense to hire outside counsel."   
"And I assume you checked me out," Larry chimed in without missing a beat.  
The music from earlier that morning came into Ally's head again. "Well, you seem smart and since you're a solo practitioner I figured that you must be a decent litigator now if you DON'T want to do the case -"  
Larry interrupted, "I want it!"   
"Oh, oh good, excellent," Ally was relieved, "great," she continued, still feeling nervous in Larry's presence.   
"Great," Larry looked at Ally, questionably.   
"Okay then," Ally tried to break the awkward silence that had once again boomed in the room, only this silence spread for a longer period of time.   
Ally had turned around and Larry stopped her by speaking, "Ally I could be wrong but is there something you would like to talk about?" Larry cocked his head at her.   
Ally became utterly nervous and began stuttering, "No, no no," Ally laughed softly, "No, why, no, what would I have to talk about?" Ally was nervous that he had noticed something about her sudden little crush on him.  
"The case," Larry said in a way that made Ally feel like the stupidest person alive.   
"Oh," Ally said in a relieved state. "While, having dinner with the father and son, I passed this puritanical witch I knew in law school. She was out with her friends wearing their little Gucci chastity belts and I mentioned something about her slipping me spermicide. She claims it impuned her, she filed suit, and then she amended the complaint after I said something completely in passing about a pinching diaphragm within the earshot of a bystanding nun. And now, I sit before you, garnished. So, um, do you have ANY, thoughts?  
  
  
Ally smiled, she always did talk in run-on sentences, like Larry always told her. She was amazed that she even kept it. Thoughts of the lawsuit with Kimmy led to her other thoughts of her and Larry's first beginnings.   
  
  
"You, uh, know, Nelle?" Ally asked Larry above the music in the Martini Bar jealous.   
"I met her in your office today and, she invited me for a drink. She seems nice," Larry looked at Ally wondering what she was getting at, then he glanced over at her and added, "good hair," with a smile.   
Ally stuttered, trying to spit out the words, "Di, I, do, I, yo, you're married, Larry," Ally looked at him incredulously. "Di, do, don't you think that's a little inappropriate?"  
"No," Larry was getting a kick out of this.   
"No?" Ally was confused.  
"I'm divorced," this put Ally in her place, she was stunned.   
"Oh," Ally started laughing nervously realizing she wanted to be with him instead of Nelle forgetting that she was out with someone else at that particular moment. "Well good, I mean, no, I mean well nevermind I guess."  
Nelle came up next to Larry, "I hate to interrupt Ally but your date, looks a little insecure over there. Elaine's putting up-" Ally chose to ignore the rest of what she said.   
"Thank you Nelle," Ally glared at her and gritted her teeth in a highly fake smile. "See you tomorrow," she turned to Larry.  
"I'll be here," Larry watched Ally walk away and then as soon as Ally sat down, she was looking back over at Nelle and Larry's table, enviously.   
  
***  
  
"How dare you make me apologize to that, vile rabid yak! Ta-talk about groveling!" Ally was infuriated at Larry as they entered her office after the final deposition with Kimmy to resolve the lawsuit.   
"I was looking to make the lawsuit go away, which it did," Larry responded in that same fast paced ending of sentences he was so fond of doing.  
"Well it wasn't worth-"   
Larry interrupted, "Yes it was."  
"To have to suck up to her AND pay her legal fees?" Ally couldn't get over her anger. "This was a stupid case!"  
"Which you started!" Larry cut in quickly.  
"And any half-ass lawyer-"   
Larry put another two cents in, "That would be me."  
"Would have declared this Nelle and void with one motion."  
There was a brief pause and smart Mr. Larry spoke up again. "Null and void, Nelle's your colleague," Larry put emphasis on the difference between null and Nelle.  
"Who you're dating and I find that completely inappropriate. I suppose you're seeing her tonight?"  
Larry couldn't help himself, "Actually no, I'll be with her mother," he smiled.   
Ally was appalled, "This case is over! You can go now!" and Ally turned away from him.   
Larry stepped towards Ally, "I don't wanna go. I want you to ditch the father and son act, I'll declare Nelle void and we can have dinner tonight."  
"Done," Ally said before turning around and smiling.   
  
  
Ally couldn't forget their first date. She was in absolute heaven. 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2  
Disclaimer: see chapter 1  
  
She put the file down and reached for the album she initially grabbed and opened it. She was first greeted with a bunch of Christmas pictures and a smile sprang to her lips. The first was one of Larry in a Santa hat and his head cocked lying down with his body propped up on his elbow with a wide smile on his face. The Santa hat...the Santa hat...  
  
  
Ally was sitting on the floor cross-legged going through the contents in some box, old files, documents and such when Larry came in wearing a Santa hat.   
"Knock, knock," Larry approached Ally, waiting for some sort of invitation.   
"Larry," Ally said a bit relieved to see him, after not being able to make it over to his office after all. "Hey."  
Larry took it upon himself to sit on the chair directly behind Ally and started rubbing one of her shoulders. "Was it weird?" he broke the awkward silence.  
Ally quit sorting documents for a moment "Oh, well, um," she looked at him, "Was it weird for you?"  
"A little," Larry proceeded to rub both of her shoulders as if trying to kiss her ass a bit, "Thank you for being such a good sport, you were very kind."  
"Well she seemed nice," Ally continued rifling through the box.   
Larry was nervous about what was going on, "Listen, she's um, a, she's got a flight out tonight at midnight, I, sorta said it would be okay if she came to the party," he finished in a hurry. Ally stopped in her tracks and then looked at Larry. "Is it okay?" Ally got up and threw him out the window...in her head.  
"Sure," Ally simply responded.  
Larry hinted the hesitation of his actions and then took his Santa hat off, becoming very nervous once again. "I didn't know, how to say no," Ally kept rummaging in the box looking for a way to keep herself occupied. "Uh, but, if you're at all uncomfortable, I will, she'll understand."  
Ally grabbed two files from the box, got up and walked towards her desk, "No, uh, it's okay, I'm okay with it, just, no dancing with her."  
"Deal," Larry said relieved. Ally smiled   
  
  
As Ally stared at the smiling Larry in the Santa hat in the picture, she didn't want to remember the rest of the conversation as well as the rest of that day. Jamie had stopped by to "double-check" about the party, Ally changed her mind, made her way to Larry's office, changed her mind again, and that "bitch" as Renee had lovingly nicknamed her, had confessed to Larry that this was all to get him back and be a family again. Jamie nicely used Sam as a decoy for a moment, but not once lying about her wanting Larry back. One memory Ally DID like about that night....  
  
  
"Is that what you two were talking about, parenting?" Ally asked Larry cautiously in her office that night.   
There was a long awkward silence as Ally looked at Larry, waiting for a response. Finally, "Sort of, she," Larry paused, "wants to be a family again. Part for the sake of Sam, part," Larry cut himself off. Ally knew the rest of it, and he knew that.  
"Well, well there is a, little kid to think of." Ally tried to force herself to think of what she wanted it to really be about, not that that bitch wanted her man. "What did you say?" Ally asked the inevitable.  
"I uh, I agreed. If there was anyway we could work it out we should," Ally was crushed, not catching the hidden message in what he said. She looked down and let out a heavy type sigh and tried to cover it with a slight cough. Larry continued, "But uh," he moved towards her. "I didn't think there was any way since I was so, totally in love, with somebody else," Larry struggled to get the rest of that sentence out, getting emotional himself over his love for Ally. Ally looked up at Larry with bug eyes, surprised, relieved, happy, all of the above.  
  
  
Ally smiled, the first time he said he loved her. She couldn't believe it. It was such a sweet memory. As many of her memories with Larry tended to be. She closed the album, putting it aside for a later look through.   
She dug around in the box some more and found a little blue ball. "The blinking nose!" she exclaimed out loud in happiness.   
  
  
Ally was in Larry's office and he was trying to have a serious conversation but when the larger ball-sized nose had been placed on Larry's own, she found it hard and told him so. He used his remote control; he sure did like those remotes, and pressed a button turning the nose blue.   
"You, are the biggest nut, I've ever met."  
"That's a good thing," Larry said looking straight at her.  
"That's a good thing," she repeated, kissing him.   
  
***  
  
Ally had made her way to Larry's office after their conversation about him having to go to Detroit to be with his son and found him packing. Larry walked over to Ally, and then back to his desk and retrieved, the blue nose from Christmas and gently placed it on Ally's nose.   
Larry hit the remote switch turning the light in the nose on. "Oh, now that's blue," Larry joked half-heartedly.   
Ally popped the nose off of her own, "Tell me about it," she looked down, depressed. "So where is the, uh, little home wrecker?" Ally looked up and around and then back at Larry and smiled to hint her comment was half-joking.   
"Oh, he's uh, he's back with Renee packing his stuff; our flight is at nine."   
Ally moved a little bit closer to Larry, "So, does that mean we can have an early dinner?"   
"Well," Larry said in a contradictory tone, looking away from Ally, nervous. "I have a problem with goodbyes. I think it would be better if I could just skip ahead to the, uh," he motioned with his hand.   
Ally was taken back. She'd never met anyone like him, truly never. "Okay," she simply answered, backing up a bit.  
Larry had to explain himself further; he felt it. "That dream you had, where I left with a note," he paused and looked directly into her eyes, "that'd be exactly what I'd do."   
"Okay, so when I drop you off at the airport I just, won't watch you get outta the car," Ally said, sadly looking down and away.  
Larry didn't miss a beat, "I got us a town car to go to the airport."   
"Larry," Ally said softly, sighing, this just kept getting better and better.  
"I can't handle goodbyes, okay?" he said raising his voice a little. "So just, bare with me on this and just know that, I love you and, I'll be back."   
"Okay," was all Ally could say.   
This had gotten bad.   
  
***  
  
The song Larry wrote for her was playing in her head, as she made her way home after saying goodbye to Larry, without-actually-saying goodbye. She was sniffling but no tears had fallen just yet. Ally rounded the corner towards her apartment looking down like she usually did and when she looked up, she stopped dead in her tracks. There, right by the stairway into her apartment building, was a snowman, complete with a hat, a jacket which was Larry's, a mouth, two eyes with a pair of glasses which were also Larry's, that blue blinking nose, only it wasn't blinking, and a note, that simply said, in his familiar handwriting...I'll Be Back.  
  
  
Ally knew it was a long long long time ago, but she couldn't help getting all misty-eyed again at the thought. She went crazy when he was gone. She saw Barry Manilow, almost got herself arrested when she actually went after the REAL Barry, saw two therapists that told her to leave him, one friendly, one, not-so-friendly. To top things off, she hugged Richard and kissed Jackson, thinking they were both him. Richard...she couldn't forget crazy Richard Fish. Everything was about money with him. And then Jackson Duper...she never liked him much. She laughed at the memory of Larry and Jackson's antics. She couldn't forget the bastard he had turned out to be for dumping Renee. "Being honest" as Renee had put it...Ally however, always believed that he was just biding time until Ling would have him. "Bastard," she mumbled out loud.   
Ally put the blue nose on her own nose and continued rummaging through the box. 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 2  
Disclaimer: see chapter 1  
  
She put the file down and reached for the album she initially grabbed and opened it. She was first greeted with a bunch of Christmas pictures and a smile sprang to her lips. The first was one of Larry in a Santa hat and his head cocked lying down with his body propped up on his elbow with a wide smile on his face. The Santa hat...the Santa hat...  
  
  
Ally was sitting on the floor cross-legged going through the contents in some box, old files, documents and such when Larry came in wearing a Santa hat.   
"Knock, knock," Larry approached Ally, waiting for some sort of invitation.   
"Larry," Ally said a bit relieved to see him, after not being able to make it over to his office after all. "Hey."  
Larry took it upon himself to sit on the chair directly behind Ally and started rubbing one of her shoulders. "Was it weird?" he broke the awkward silence.  
Ally quit sorting documents for a moment "Oh, well, um," she looked at him, "Was it weird for you?"  
"A little," Larry proceeded to rub both of her shoulders as if trying to kiss her ass a bit, "Thank you for being such a good sport, you were very kind."  
"Well she seemed nice," Ally continued rifling through the box.   
Larry was nervous about what was going on, "Listen, she's um, a, she's got a flight out tonight at midnight, I, sorta said it would be okay if she came to the party," he finished in a hurry. Ally stopped in her tracks and then looked at Larry. "Is it okay?" Ally got up and threw him out the window...in her head.  
"Sure," Ally simply responded.  
Larry hinted the hesitation of his actions and then took his Santa hat off, becoming very nervous once again. "I didn't know, how to say no," Ally kept rummaging in the box looking for a way to keep herself occupied. "Uh, but, if you're at all uncomfortable, I will, she'll understand."  
Ally grabbed two files from the box, got up and walked towards her desk, "No, uh, it's okay, I'm okay with it, just, no dancing with her."  
"Deal," Larry said relieved. Ally smiled   
  
  
As Ally stared at the smiling Larry in the Santa hat in the picture, she didn't want to remember the rest of the conversation as well as the rest of that day. Jamie had stopped by to "double-check" about the party, Ally changed her mind, made her way to Larry's office, changed her mind again, and that "bitch" as Renee had lovingly nicknamed her, had confessed to Larry that this was all to get him back and be a family again. Jamie nicely used Sam as a decoy for a moment, but not once lying about her wanting Larry back. One memory Ally DID like about that night....  
  
  
"Is that what you two were talking about, parenting?" Ally asked Larry cautiously in her office that night.   
There was a long awkward silence as Ally looked at Larry, waiting for a response. Finally, "Sort of, she," Larry paused, "wants to be a family again. Part for the sake of Sam, part," Larry cut himself off. Ally knew the rest of it, and he knew that.  
"Well, well there is a, little kid to think of." Ally tried to force herself to think of what she wanted it to really be about, not that that bitch wanted her man. "What did you say?" Ally asked the inevitable.  
"I uh, I agreed. If there was anyway we could work it out we should," Ally was crushed, not catching the hidden message in what he said. She looked down and let out a heavy type sigh and tried to cover it with a slight cough. Larry continued, "But uh," he moved towards her. "I didn't think there was any way since I was so, totally in love, with somebody else," Larry struggled to get the rest of that sentence out, getting emotional himself over his love for Ally. Ally looked up at Larry with bug eyes, surprised, relieved, happy, all of the above.  
  
  
Ally smiled, the first time he said he loved her. She couldn't believe it. It was such a sweet memory. As many of her memories with Larry tended to be. She closed the album, putting it aside for a later look through.   
She dug around in the box some more and found a little blue ball. "The blinking nose!" she exclaimed out loud in happiness.   
  
  
Ally was in Larry's office and he was trying to have a serious conversation but when the larger ball-sized nose had been placed on Larry's own, she found it hard and told him so. He used his remote control; he sure did like those remotes, and pressed a button turning the nose blue.   
"You, are the biggest nut, I've ever met."  
"That's a good thing," Larry said looking straight at her.  
"That's a good thing," she repeated, kissing him.   
  
***  
  
Ally had made her way to Larry's office after their conversation about him having to go to Detroit to be with his son and found him packing. Larry walked over to Ally, and then back to his desk and retrieved, the blue nose from Christmas and gently placed it on Ally's nose.   
Larry hit the remote switch turning the light in the nose on. "Oh, now that's blue," Larry joked half-heartedly.   
Ally popped the nose off of her own, "Tell me about it," she looked down, depressed. "So where is the, uh, little home wrecker?" Ally looked up and around and then back at Larry and smiled to hint her comment was half-joking.   
"Oh, he's uh, he's back with Renee packing his stuff; our flight is at nine."   
Ally moved a little bit closer to Larry, "So, does that mean we can have an early dinner?"   
"Well," Larry said in a contradictory tone, looking away from Ally, nervous. "I have a problem with goodbyes. I think it would be better if I could just skip ahead to the, uh," he motioned with his hand.   
Ally was taken back. She'd never met anyone like him, truly never. "Okay," she simply answered, backing up a bit.  
Larry had to explain himself further; he felt it. "That dream you had, where I left with a note," he paused and looked directly into her eyes, "that'd be exactly what I'd do."   
"Okay, so when I drop you off at the airport I just, won't watch you get outta the car," Ally said, sadly looking down and away.  
Larry didn't miss a beat, "I got us a town car to go to the airport."   
"Larry," Ally said softly, sighing, this just kept getting better and better.  
"I can't handle goodbyes, okay?" he said raising his voice a little. "So just, bare with me on this and just know that, I love you and, I'll be back."   
"Okay," was all Ally could say.   
This had gotten bad.   
  
***  
  
The song Larry wrote for her was playing in her head, as she made her way home after saying goodbye to Larry, without-actually-saying goodbye. She was sniffling but no tears had fallen just yet. Ally rounded the corner towards her apartment looking down like she usually did and when she looked up, she stopped dead in her tracks. There, right by the stairway into her apartment building, was a snowman, complete with a hat, a jacket which was Larry's, a mouth, two eyes with a pair of glasses which were also Larry's, that blue blinking nose, only it wasn't blinking, and a note, that simply said, in his familiar handwriting...I'll Be Back.  
  
  
Ally knew it was a long long long time ago, but she couldn't help getting all misty-eyed again at the thought. She went crazy when he was gone. She saw Barry Manilow, almost got herself arrested when she actually went after the REAL Barry, saw two therapists that told her to leave him, one friendly, one, not-so-friendly. To top things off, she hugged Richard and kissed Jackson, thinking they were both him. Richard...she couldn't forget crazy Richard Fish. Everything was about money with him. And then Jackson Duper...she never liked him much. She laughed at the memory of Larry and Jackson's antics. She couldn't forget the bastard he had turned out to be for dumping Renee. "Being honest" as Renee had put it...Ally however, always believed that he was just biding time until Ling would have him. "Bastard," she mumbled out loud.   
Ally put the blue nose on her own nose and continued rummaging through the box. 


End file.
